Researchers and Affiliates

Key Researchers

	Brady Robards Group Convenor Brady is an Associate Professor in Sociology in the School of Social Sciences. His research explores how young people use and produce digital social media.
	Mark Andrejevic Mark is a Professor in the School of Media, Film and Journalism. His research explores data mining, online monitoring from a socio-cultural perspective.
	Emma Baulch Emma is an Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies in the School of Arts and Social Sciences. Emma’s research is located in the fields of Asian cultural studies and media and communications studies. She is interested in how new media technologies alter and are altered by existing Southeast Asian social formations revolving around race, class and ethnicity.
	Daniel Black Daniel is a Senior Lecturer in Communications and Media Studies in the School of Media, Film and Journalism. His research focuses on technological embodiment and the ways in which human action, perception and understanding are inflected by our relationships with technology.
	Asher Flynn Asher is a Professor of Criminology. Her research focuses on gendered and technology-facilitated violence, including serious social and legal problems like image-based abuse, deep fakes and AI-and digital technology abuse.
	Robbie Fordyce Robbie is a Senior Lecturer in Communications and Media Studies in the School of Media, Film and Journalism. He researchers areas such as digital ethics, smart cities, infrastructure, automation, surveillance and fabrication.
	Bridget Harris Bridget Harris is an Associate Professor of Criminology and Deputy Director of the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre. Bridget conducts research on domestic and family violence, technology-facilitated / digital coercive control, violence against women, technology-facilitated responses to violence, violence and spatiality, violence against women and rural domestic and family violence.
	Xavier Ho Xavier is an interdisciplinary creative technologist and designer at Monash University’s XYX Lab and SensiLab. Xavier's research critically examines queer game narratives in indie games, investigating how video games embody authentic lived experiences and shape queer culture in the public consciousness. His work is interdisciplinary and collaborative as a queer designer.
	Whitney Monaghan Whitney is a Lecturer in Communications and Media Studies in the School of Media, Film and Journalism. Her research interests include LBGTIQ representation on screen, television cultures, teen screen cultures and media studies pedagogy.
	Aneta Podkalicka Aneta is a Senior Lecturer in Communications and Media Studies in the School of Media Film and Journalism. She is currently researching digital marketplaces and second-hand economies, environmental media and the impacts of digitisation of the future of work
	Steven Roberts Steve is Professor of Education & Social Justice in the School of Education, Culture & Society. His research explores youth, social class, young people's transition to adulthood and the changing nature of men and masculinities.
	Neil Selwyn Neil is a Distinguished Professor in the Faculty of Education who has worked for the past 25 years researching the integration of digital technology into schools, universities and adult learning. He is recognised as a leading international researcher in the area of digital education - with particular expertise in the 'real-life' constraints and problems faced when technology-based education is implemented.
	Verity Trott Verity is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Media Research in the School of Media, Film and Journalism. Her research explores the role of digital technology and digital platforms in feminist activism and anti-feminist backlashes with a focus on the Manosphere.
	Emily van der Nagel Emily is a Lecturer in the School of Media, Film and Journalism. Her research examines social media identities, platforms, and cultures with a focus on anonymity and pseudonymity.
	Stefan Bächtold Stefan is a research fellow at the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Monash University Malaysia. His research explores how digital technologies intersect with the political – and are involved in armed conflicts, governing, and state formations in Southeast Asia.
	Arran Ridley Arran is an Assistant Professor in Marketing and Digital Communications at the Monash University, Indonesia. His research interests cover critical data studies, digital methods, and data visualization, its practice, theory and its use in society.

Affiliates

Our Affiliates below are PhD and early career researchers working on a range of interesting projects

What is your research about?
Islam, gender, and new media.
What led to your interest in this topic?
I began my academic career as a researcher in media studies. Around 2015, I became interested in the way urban, middle-class Indonesian Muslims express themselves on social media. While they present their messages in a contemporary and pop-culture manner, their values are fundamentally conservative, such as encouraging early marriage, prohibiting dating, and encouraging women to stay at home. They package their messages in innovative ways that are entertaining and appealing to the public, thereby making the values they promote more acceptable, if not desirable.
What do you hope your research will achieve?
By examining the connections between social media and religious expression, I hope to gain a better understanding of how urban Muslims use media to make sense of their identities and the implications for religious discourse in Indonesia.
See Andina's research here
Contact Andina via email
What is your research about?
My current research focuses on political extremism, particularly the networks and discursive strategies of radicalised groups and the violence they produce. My wider research focus extends to other ideological groups, including religious extremists and members of the Manosphere. I approach these topics using qualitative, quantitative and computational social science methods.
What led to your interest in this topic?
I have, for a long time, had an interest in violence prevention, politics and different forms of extremism. My research topic is an intersection of these three existing interests.
What do you hope your research will achieve?
I hope that my research will develop a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of complex extremist networks, which, in turn, will help prevent the proliferation of such networks.
Connect with Callum on Twitter
Contact Callum via email
What is your research about?
My research explores the social media experiences of African young people in Australia with a focus on how digital platforms, practises and experiences contribute to feelings of belonging and connectedness. My research centres race as a fundamental part of everyday life for African Australian young people, using critical race theory to investigate how being racialised as Black shapes, intersects and influences their digital experiences.
What led to your interest in this topic?
As a white Australian person, my partner – who is of African origin – largely inspired my interest in this project when I saw how his visible difference and ‘otherness’ impacted his experience in Australia. I felt compelled to centre visible difference – using a critical race analysis – to explore how blackness complicates and contests belonging, and how social media is used to navigate experiences of belonging in Australia.
What do you hope your research will achieve?
I hope my research challenges many of the dominant discourses about African young people in Australia as ‘violent’ and in need of intervention. My project explores the often (in)visibilised everyday African Australian young person capturing their joy, creativity, resilience, power and pride and demonstrating the many ways that social media platforms are used to cultivate and navigate belonging.
See Claire's research here
Connect with Claire on Twitter
Contact Claire via email
What is your research about?
My research is about online gender-based violence (OGBV) which has become a growing area of interest in both academic literature and public debate. My project explores the spectrum of OGBV experienced by young women and girls aged 18 to 25 years which is often perpetrated via popular social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and WhatsApp. My project also explores the different type of responses girls and young women utilise to protect themselves from OGBV, as well as the responsibilities of social media platforms to ensure the safety and privacy for girls and young women experiencing gendered violence online.
What led to your interest in this topic?
As a young woman myself, I recognise the vulnerabilities that girls and young women face when they are navigating the online space. Sometimes it is not as simple as ‘switching off’ from social media or deleting your account, which is often the advice given to girls and young women who are experiencing these types of harms. When choosing my research topic, I noticed that although there are new and emerging studies on the harmful impacts of OGBV, there has been little research in Australia which has focused specifically on girls’ and young women’s experiences of and responses to online violence.
What do you hope your research will achieve?
I hope that my research will give girls and young woman a platform to share their experiences of OGBV and contribute to the ongoing discussion of online safety for women. It would also be great to see more girls and young women actively partnering with organisations and major social media companies so that they are part of the decision-making process. Since this area is rapidly expanding, it is crucial that girls and young women are given the power to make these changes which will restore and amplify their voices and call for greater action by online platforms to prevent all forms of OGBV.
See Hannah's research here
Connect with Hannah on Twitter
What is your research about?
My research discusses the use of homeland digital media by older Korean migrants in Australia, focusing on ways of negotiating their experiences of social disconnection and disadvantages.
What led to your interest in this topic?
My interest in this research topic began when I saw a Korean lady in her 70s well aware of the latest trends and information that only the younger generation would know. Despite the lady not seeming to have many social relations in Australia and only partaking in consumption of homeland media, she said that she was enjoying her life. Hearing this, I wondered what digital media she was using and what role the media was playing in her life.
What do you hope your research will achieve?
I hope my research explores how older non-white migrants in a white-dominant host society negotiate social disconnection and disadvantages related to structural limitations, and reconstruct migrant identity and maintain social/emotional connection through the use of homeland digital media.
See Jaekyung's research here
Contact Jaekyung via email
What is your research about?
In recent years, the incels (‘involuntary celibates’) subculture has sparked considerable public consternation and academic research in response to the group’s misogynistic beliefs and the lone offender attacks committed by some young men inspired by these ideologies. My research aims to investigate how masculinities and femininities are performed within these groups, with a particular focus on exploring how extremist and criminogenic attitudes are prevalent in only some forums which discuss dating strategies, singleness, and involuntary celibacy.
What led to your interest in this topic?
This research is largely motivated by my interest in how the construction of gender can influence the development of misogynistic and criminogenic attitudes within digital cultures. The research topic combines my interest in feminist criminology, gender studies, political extremism, and social media.
What do you hope your research will achieve?
My research aims to improve academic knowledge in this space, which could ultimately help to counter the prevalence of misogynistic digital cultures.
Contact Joshua via email
Connect with Joshua on Twitter
What is your research about?
My research lies at the intersection of gender and digital media and explores what it is like to be a young man on the Internet today. It uses an intersectional lens to examine the everyday experiences of ordinary young men in Australia with varying life histories and understand how their race/ethnicity, class and sexuality intertwine with their gender on social media.
What led to your interest in this topic?
Observing the wide range of influences of digital participation on masculine subjectivity among the men in my close circles.
What do you hope your research will achieve?
By examining reflexive articulations by young men about their media experiences through an intersectional lens I hope to throw light on the social and material complexities and contexts around technology use, centre the voices of my participants in this research and enable them to reflect on their feelings and relations with the platforms they inhabit
Connect with Richa on Twitter
Contact Richa via email
What is your research about?
My research explores how digital culture shapes understandings and practices of race for Asian diaspora. I am particularly interested in the way knowledge cultures are created and spread online, how therapeutic culture functions in these spaces and how people conceptualise their everyday involvement in negotiating race and identity. I engage with these questions through an affective-discursive framework.
What led to your interest in this topic?
Initially I was interested in the popularisation of the term ‘performative politics’ and its everyday usage by people to critique certain forms of online activism. In particular, the claims that people were overperforming for clout stood out to me as I’ve always been drawn to the ways online spaces that are centered around race or gender can often be so emotionally charged. What I find engaging about researching these spaces is less about being able to make a judgement on whether it’s effective politics. Rather, I find it much more compelling to explore the kinds of attachments people are invested in and the different kinds of affective economies that circulate.
What do you hope your research will achieve?
I find there is often a tendency to speak about identity politics and digital culture in a reductive way- so I am hoping I can intervene by offering a fresh, thorough and nuanced perspective on how race is negotiated online by Asian diaspora.
Connect with Tash on Twitter
Contact Tash via email
What is your research about?
I’m currently researching audiences of the popular queer reality TV shows, RuPaul’s Drag Race and Queer Eye. I’m looking at how broad audiences understand and relate to representations of queerness, especially within a mainstream context.
What led to your interest in this topic?
I’m a queer person who, as a teenager, tried to connect with and understand this part of my identity by consuming queer social media content and TV. We often imagine that queer-themed media is for queer audiences, however, over the years, I have been thinking more about what it means for this type of content to come into the mainstream. A whole range of audiences receive, consume, and enjoy these programs. That’s why I feel it’s important to talk to audiences of all different genders, ages and sexualities, and develop a deeper understanding of how queerness is received and negotiated within a mainstream context.
What do you hope your research will achieve?
By talking to people about these programs, how they watch them, and what the shows mean to them, I’m looking to produce some empirical data that will help us understand how particular conceptions of queerness are taken up, negotiated, and understood by a wide range of audiences. By doing so, I'm hoping to demonstrate the broader impacts of queer-themed television and representation.
Connect with Shirley on Twitter
See Shirley's research here
What is your research about?
My research primarily focuses on the intersection between digital technologies and screen media, investigating a number of key transformations and disruptions to film, television, video games, and the cultures and theories surrounding these. My PhD thesis explores the increasingly common mobilisation of digital actors in cinema for virtual resurrections, leading to new understandings of realism, stardom, and the industrial logic of Hollywood in a ‘post-death’ era. While the transformations virtual actors pose to cinema are in many ways novel, these theorisations offer subtle points of reconciliation for film theories challenged by the digital era, and, critically, new frameworks with which to articulate its complexities.
What led to your interest in this topic?
My interest in this field comes from a lifetime of enthusiasm for film, TV and video games, paired with a theoretical curiosity about how new technologies may drastically alter our understandings of these forms (and the world more widely) in a way that often goes unchecked. Considering the digital actor offers a means with which to encounter all of these interests, and it so happened that the first time I saw a truly convincing deepfake was when I was planning my dissertation.
What do you hope your research will achieve?
The world engages with screen media in an unprecedented way, and so it is important to understand how it shapes our cultures in often intangible yet significant ways. The rapidly evolving nature of the screen presents a constant requirement to fill voids in knowledge, update old theories, and consolidate scholarly work in order to help us understand it fully, and I hope my research might contribute in some small way to that.
Contact Callan via email
What is your research about?
The research focuses on online sexist and misogynistic language perceived as a silencing mechanism or an instigator for action in the Balkans. As with gender-based violence, online harassment has the purpose of enforcing the established gender power relations and reinforcing gender inequalities. In this context, I am particularly interested in responses to online sexism and misogyny and feminist tactics and strategies of coping with online harassment.
What led to your interest in this topic?
My first interest arose from my personal experience and my limitations in online participation. It has been enhanced with the global pandemic and the importance of online communication during the lockdown.
What do you hope your research will achieve?
By examining online discourse around sexism and misogyny, my aim is to enrich the scholarship and, at the same time, have practical application in the everyday feminist struggle in the Balkans and globally. As a relatively new area of interest in the Balkans, academic research on the topic is very limited. Therefore, I hope that my research will serve as a basis for future focus and exploration.
Contact Natasha via email

Researchers and Affiliates

Key Researchers

Affiliates

What is your research about?

What led to your interest in this topic?

What do you hope your research will achieve?

See Andina's research here

Contact Andina via email

What is your research about?

What led to your interest in this topic?

What do you hope your research will achieve?

Connect with Callum on Twitter

Contact Callum via email

What is your research about?

What led to your interest in this topic?

What do you hope your research will achieve?

See Claire's research here

Connect with Claire on Twitter

Contact Claire via email

What is your research about?

What led to your interest in this topic?

What do you hope your research will achieve?

See Hannah's research here

Connect with Hannah on Twitter

What is your research about?

What led to your interest in this topic?

What do you hope your research will achieve?

See Jaekyung's research here

Contact Jaekyung via email

What is your research about?

What led to your interest in this topic?

What do you hope your research will achieve?

Contact Joshua via email

Connect with Joshua on Twitter

What is your research about?

What led to your interest in this topic?

What do you hope your research will achieve?

Connect with Richa on Twitter

Contact Richa via email

What is your research about?

What led to your interest in this topic?

What do you hope your research will achieve?

Connect with Tash on Twitter

Contact Tash via email

What is your research about?

What led to your interest in this topic?

What do you hope your research will achieve?

Connect with Shirley on Twitter

See Shirley's research here

What is your research about?

What led to your interest in this topic?

What do you hope your research will achieve?

Contact Callan via email

What is your research about?

What led to your interest in this topic?

What do you hope your research will achieve?

Contact Natasha via email